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PSA Advertising

In this day and age, advertisements are used for products, services, and even as public service announcements. Advertisements that send a message to their viewers, not necessarily selling something, have been growing in popularity in recent years. An advertisement by the States United to Prevent Gun Violence gives awareness to children who have fell victim to gun accidents in their home. Unfortunately, this happens quite often in the US, and this PSA is attempting to make it a more widely known issue.

The spot is called, “The Monster Is Real,” and it tells viewers a story about a young, curious, boy.

Many proponents against advertisements like this use the argument that children won’t play with something that they are afraid of, yet this ad tells us a different story. Within the past two decades there has been an inordinate amount of school and public shootings, and these catastrophes have been happening often. The group released, along with the advertisement, statistics about gun safety in the US.

“• 1.5 million American children live in homes with unlocked and loaded firearms.
• Every day at least six children 18 and under are injured in an unintentional shooting.
• 75 percent of gun shot injuries to children under 10 that are serious enough to require hospitalization are due to unintentional shootings.”

Advertising that promotes certain political points of view is, obviously, controversial to many. Either way I think that these ads are important in educating the public. As we’ve all seen, there are also advertisements all over TV about the dangers of smoking, not starting wildfires, and abstaining from drug use.

I think PSA advertisements are a clever and informative use of media, and unlike many product advertisements that try to fool consumers; these PSAs are all about spreading statistics and knowledge.